Thursday, 24 July 2014

If the technology industry continues to operate in the same manner it does today, the production of greenhouse gases will skyrocket, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

The firm predicts that, while 6.4 megatonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) will be generated from charging mobile devices by the end of the year, this figure could rise to 13 megatonnes per year by 2019.

Almost half of these emissions will reportedly come out of coal-powered Asian electricity grids catering to smartphone users.

The company believes that it’s time for tech firms to take the bull by the horns.

“There is low consumer awareness of renewable energy and sustainable habits,” reports Juniper Research. “It is down to vendors to take the lead in making energy companies provide more green electricity for both industry and consumers.”

It also thinks that green practices will encourage more of the same, claiming that, in cases where IT firms have insisted that their grids use renewable forms of energy, energy companies have responded by offering to expand renewable sources to other customers.

Juniper also identified phone design as an area that can be improved, since it can have a “large impact” on recyclability.

Friday, 18 July 2014

Software giants Microsoft have announced a new deal with an Illinois-based wind farm project to power it’s Chicago datacentre. The makers of Windows will purchase 175 megawatts of commercial wind energy from the Pilot Hill Wind Project as part of a 20-year agreement announced this week. Microsoft who – along with Google – have set the trend for technology companies to push towards renewable energy power for their worldwide ocations, announced the deal on their blog, also revealing the 175Mw purchase to be the biggest in the company’s history and one of the biggest corporate wind purchases from a single facility.

The Pilot Hill Wind Project is owned and operated by EDF Renewable Energy, with whom Microsoft brokered a similar deal for one of their datacentres in Texas late last year.

Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Investment bank UBS has predicted that solar power could be powering entire cities by 2018 in it’s latest forecast for commercial renewable energy projects. The Swiss-based financial powerhouse has predicted that more and more homes and businesses could be putting power back into the grid by the end of the decade, thanks to the rise of ‘rooftop solar’. Whilst photovoltaic solar panels are a common piece of technology and well-established in the energy marketplace, UBS say that the increase in people retroactively fitting them to their property or place of work, combined with new buildings having them as standard, could mean large towns 1×1.trans City Scale Solar Set to be Viable by 2018

Tuesday, 15 July 2014

Australia could slash its carbon emissions to zero by 2050 and still experience average economic growth of 2.4% a year, according to a UN-backed study.The Deep Decarbonisation Pathways report, released by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, analysed the 15 countries that account for 70% of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, which includes Australia, the US, Britain and China.According to the report, compiled by academics from each of the countries, the 15 countries could make deep cuts to emissions while also tripling economic output.These cuts are needed, the report notes, if the world is to avoid the “catastrophic” impact of failing to keep to the internationally agreed limit of 2C global warming on pre-industrial levels. The study concedes the world is on track to overshoot this.The study notes that Australia has high per-capita emissions, with coal-fired power providing 69% of electricity generation, higher than most other industrialised countries.

The High Court has ruled that a planned biomass conversion at Drax power station is eligible for a Contract for Difference under DECC’s Final Investment Decision Enabling mechanism.The coal-to-bio rejig at the 600MW Yorkshire facility’s second unit was turned down in April while one on the third unit won backing. Drax Group, which had previously been told the scheme was eligible, kicked off a legal challenge immediately.

Declining U.K. natural gas prices are prompting utilities to burn more of the fuel for power production as profit from coal-fed plants falls to the lowest in more than four years.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows the amount of electricity generated from gas in the U.K. is the highest for this time of year since 2011, while that from coal has slumped. The price of month-ahead U.K. gas has dropped for seven consecutive months in the longest downward streak since 2009, making the fuel more competitive for power generation, broker data show.

Since 2010, coal has been more profitable than gas for electricity production, prompting U.K. utilities to shutter enough gas-fired generation in the past two years to power more than 4 million homes, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Cheaper gas and a rising carbon tax that will boost penalties for burning coal means companies may reconsider shutting some plants, according to Energy Aspects Ltd.

Monday, 14 July 2014

Smart homes mean gadgets that communicate, but at what cost? More power drain is coming as the home gets smarter and Smappee is here to let you know what’s draining power and where.Smappee claims it’ll be able to cut £2.8 billion from UK energy bills. At a time when an energy crisis looms this will be a welcome piece of kit.Clamp Smappee onto the main power cable in your home and it’ll tell you every single device draining juice and even let you shut them off using the app. It also learns about your energy usage meaning it should, theoretically, work automatically eventually.Smappee also allows for grouping, so you could control an entire room with a single icon tap. And if you’ve got solar panels Smappee tracks them too so you can see how much juice is eco-friendly.Smappee says the energy monitor, priced at £169, will pay for itself in just over a year by reducing the bill of a four person UK house by 12 per cent. The Smappee energy monitor is available now in the UK.

Wednesday, 9 July 2014

The year 2014 has witnessed a 40% increase in the amount being invested into renewable energy in the UK, pushing the total figure being pumped into independent commercial scale projects up to £300 million.

This growth was revealed by Smartest Energy – Great Britain’s leading purchaser of energy generated by the independent sector – as part of the Energy Entrepreneurs Report. The report illustrates a total production of 50kw of energy from 2,930 projects powered by companies outside of the major energy firms (the Big Six).

During 2013, there were an additional 843 independent renewable energy projects implemented across the UK, at an average cost of £353,000. The 40% increase in the spend also resulted in a similar growth in terms of capacity. Although it is onshore wind farms where the greatest capacity is held, it was in the independent solar sector where the most impressive growth of 150% was recorded. This comes at a time when controversial government plans seek to reduce their support to large scale solar farms.

The number of businesses cutting ties with the ‘Big Six’ and generating their own power has seen a dramatic rise in the past year, fresh figures revealed this week show.

Onsite generation of power through renewable sources, including solar PV and anaerobic digestion, has rocketed up by more than 25 per cent, with the manufacturing sector leading the way with 38 new schemes commissioned since last year, according to the latest comprehensive study into the sector industry.

According to the 2014 Energy Entrepreneurs Report, which first published last year,investment in the UK independent renewable energy generation rocketed to almost £300 million in the past year, with the number of projects soaring by 40 per cent and solar seeing the biggest surge in capacity (150 per cent). As much as £997 million worth of energy is now being produced by independent renewable energy projects – enough to power 4.67 million households – the report claims.

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

EDF, which operates most of Britain’s nuclear power stations, could be in line for an £800m windfall via a loophole in a government subsidy scheme aimed at keeping the lights on at times of peak demand.Ed Davey, the energy and climate change secretary, last week outlined his plan to pay power plants to be on standby from 2018 in an effort to deal with peak demand and the intermittency of wind power.Most industry experts assumed that the “capacity market” scheme – the cost of which will be passed to the consumer – was designed to ensure that the many gas-fired power stations threatened with closure would be kept open.But the Department of Energy and Climate Change Decc now admits the scheme will be open to all forms of generation including nuclear, which has low operating costs and therefore could undercut its competitors in the auction to be run by the National Grid.The market is meant to start with that auction later this year although the ratings agency Moody’s has warned it may be delayed if it is found to breach European commission rules on state aid.All but one of the UK’s nuclear power plants are owned by the largely French state-owned EDF, whose UK atomic portfolio includes seven ageing plants due to be closed by 2024.

This year’s trend of below average demand and a strong supply picture continued to dampen prices in June, as contracts surpassed last month’s four-year lows.Supplies were aided by maintenance to the UK- Belgian interconnector, which kept gas in the UK. As a result storage levels reached 88% by the end of the month. These exceptionally high levels for June put pressure on prices along the curve, with winter 14 gas falling to a record low of 58.0p/th.

The energy industry has joined forces for a nationwide campaign that seeks to rally support for smart meters by touting the devices as a platform for future lifestyle changes in households.

Smart Energy GB, an organisation set up by the Government and funded by energy companies, is launching the first phase of the £85 seven-year marketing plan next week (8 July). It was first revealed in March and the campaign will play a key role in the Government’s £11bn plan to install the devices in every home by 2020.

A small iron gate squeezed between a newsagent and printing shop off Carnaby Street in central London is not the obvious location for a business that could avert a British power crunch.

Step inside the cramped, white-painted offices of KiWi Power and it looks more like a tech startup than an energy business – as exemplified by the open shirt and beaded necklace sported by co-founder Ziko Abram.

In fact, it is the firm’s tech-savvy product that offers a way out of the long-term threat of blackouts and shortages.

A lack of investment in new power plants plus an accelerating closure programme for existing sites has meant spare capacity to deal with surges in demand caused by cold weather, gas import interruptions or plant failures has fallen from about 25% in the early 1990s to 5%-10% this year. However, higher than expected demand could see that margin fall to about 2%, industry regulator Ofgem admitted last week.

According to Moody’s Investors Service, declining demand, weaker gas prices and the roll-out of offshore wind will keep wholesale electricity prices in the UK close to current levels through 2020. However, the rating agency notes, an accelerated decline in electricity demand could cause prices to decline.

“We believe that widely expected tightness will be short-lived as energy-efficiency gains, the roll-out of offshore wind power and the return of mothballed gas plants will keep prices in check”, said Scott Phillips, Moody’s Vice President and Senior Analyst. “Our view is that power prices will stay around current levels, or GBP48-53/MWh, through the end of the decade”, added Mr Phillips.

The new report “In the UK, Utilities Face Rising Regulatory and Political Risk and Flat Power Price Environment” is now available on www.moodys.com. Moody’s subscribers can access this report via the link provided at the end of this press release. This paper is part of a series on European electricity markets recently published by Moody’s. The series includes papers on the overall European unregulated utility sector, as well as individual electricity markets in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Nordics.

Moody’s expects that pressure on the profitability of gas-fired plants will continue, but coal plants should fare better. SSE plc (A3 negative) is in a better position than Centrica plc (A3 RUR-D) given its greater proportion of coal and renewable generation, as well as its regulated operations. Centrica is particularly exposed because of its ownership of gas plants but also its sizeable exploration and production operations, which will be hurt by weak natural gas prices. As a mainly fixed-cost generator, the effect on Infinis plc (Ba3 stable) will be more muted.

Moody’s notes that rising consumer energy bills, a fierce debate about the increasing cost of living and the fast approaching General Election means that the political and regulatory risk environment for UK utilities remains challenging. Given the conflict between the cost of decarbonisation and affordability, these conditions are set to persist. Whilst measures have yet to be introduced that have negatively affected utility profitability, Moody’s sees potential for this to change. As the largest UK utility, Centrica is more exposed than SSE.

Globally, online electronic devices are wasting over £46bn worth of electricity a year, according to a new report.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) claims that technology, including set-top boxes, modems, printers and game consoles, wastes around £46.6bn ($80bn, €58.5bn) annually due to “inefficient technology”.

The report explains that the majority of the wastage comes as a result of network standby, whereby an internet connection is maintained in standby mode. In fact, the IEA says network-enabled devices use as much power in this mode as they do when in full operation.

It goes on to state that the situation is only set to worsen if we continue in this current trend. By 2020, the IEA predicts that, globally, the devices will be wasting just shy of £70bn annually.

“The proliferation of connected devices brings many benefits to the world, but right now the cost is far higher than it should be,” said IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven.

“Consumers are losing money in the form of wasted energy, which is leading to more costly power stations and more distribution infrastructure being built than we would otherwise need, not to mention all the extra greenhouse gases that are being emitted. But it need not be this way.

“If we adopt best available technologies we can minimise the cost of meeting demand as the use and benefits of connected devices grows.”

Wednesday, 2 July 2014

A new scheme has been launched in the UK, designed to help businesses save at least £250 million in energy costs by 2016.The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme ESOS is expected to help reduce business energy costs by a total of £1.6 billion by 2030. ESOS is a mandatory energy assessment and energy saving identification scheme for large undertakings and their corporate groups. Under the scheme, which applies throughout the UK, businesses will be required to look closely at their energy usage to identify cost-effective energy savings.

Wholesale gas prices remain 30% lower than the same time last year as a result of continued low demand, high storage levels and plentiful supply, according to the latest Wholesale Market Report by Irish energy supplier Vayu – - prices traded at 4 year lows during early June. Temperatures throughout the UK are expected to remain at seasonal normal levels throughout July so demand in general is set to remain at or below seasonal norms, despite a small resurgence in electricity generation demand. Gas in storage in the UK market, which is the major source of gas supply into Ireland, is currently at 83% fullness, compared to 50% at the same time last year. With storage stocks so full, there are few options for where any excess gas in the UK can go.

Tuesday, 1 July 2014

With subsidies for solar panels one of the first cuts to be made under the Coalition government’s ‘Energy Bill’ in 2013, one of the best things that could happen to solar energy in the commercial energy sector is for the cost of producing panels to suddenly be made cheaper.And whilst we’ve had no shortage of space-age solutions and efficiency-boosting nano-technologies that are in development, few seem overly practical or easily implemented into current production blueprints. However, scientists could be able to cut costs of commercial solar power by replacing a single component with sea salt.

A huge green energy scheme to build a solar panel park the size of 70 football pitches near Market Harborough has been pitched to Kettering Council.The green energy plan would put about 125 acres of solar photovoltaic panels – equivalent to the size of 70 football pitches – on land 400 metres south-east of the edge of Harborough, between the A6 and the railway line.Access to the scheme would be off a concrete farm path at the top of Kettering Road, Harborough, just before it joins the A6. Part of the site was previously occupied by a motocross track.Thousands of south-facing solar panels would be mounted on metal frames up to three metres high, allowing for grazing to take place beneath them.The solar photovoltaic park could generate at least 20MW of power, which would be enough to supply more than 6,000 homes, according to figures supplied by the Solar Trade Association.

First, Randy Ross bought a Chevrolet Volt. Faced with the need to charge his car and eager to cut his utility bill, he installed solar panels on the roof of his Pleasanton, California, home.

Now Ross, 61, has taken the next big step toward energy independence: his own battery storage system, which gives him a source of backup power and could ultimately let him tap solar electricity whenever he needs it, not just when the sun is shining.

Battery-based energy storage — for homes, businesses and the electric grid — is a hot new industry in Silicon Valley, driven by advances in battery chemistry and state policies designed to support the emerging technology.

“It’s pretty amazing how much growth there will be in energy storage,” JB Straubel, chief technology officer for Tesla Motors Inc., said at a recent industry event. “We have to get to a 100 percent renewable grid, and storage becomes an absolute imperative to get there.”

Ross’s lithium-ion battery storage system, contained in a 4-foot-tall metal box mounted on the wall of his garage, is made by Tesla but offered by San Mateo, California-based SolarCity to its California solar customers as part of a small pilot project. SolarCity is currently offering what it calls the Home Energy Storage system for $1,500 down and $15 a month over a 10-year lease period.